quietly get swallowed by a whale
Jan. 16th, 2009 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hawkwing_lbOkay, that last post acquired way more attention than I expected. I'm not entirely comfortable with that, but I guess if I'm rambling my opinions all over the internets, it's one of the risks.
An addendum, of sorts: I don't want to give the impression that I have a romantic view of Irish history, and its entanglement with our local imperial power, or of Irish identity. My discomfort with romanticising Irishness comes from the simplistic and often binary interpretations placed on Irish history and identity by such groups as modern Sinn Féin and, to a lesser extent, Fianna Fáil. ('Soldiers of destiny'. Now there's a name for a political party.)
Said discomfort also comes from the sterotyped notions of Irishness found in some British media productions, and the romanticised notions of Irishness sometimes found among certain North Americans. (And certain types of fantasy - not to point fingers, or anything, but why are elves nearly always 'Celtic'? I'm fairly sure they're more Germanic, originally. And why is 'Celtic' always vaguely - almost always stereotypically - Irish and/or Scots? What about the Welsh, the Manx, the Bretons, the Cornish?)
I do not want to be a data-point reinforcing romanticisations and false binaries. The nature of, and opinions about, the matter and worth of Ireland - and of Irishness - amd experiences thereof is quite incredibly diverse, for such a small island, with such a seemingly homogenous and parochial culture. This seems a small thing to point out. And yet the individual experience of being is not reducible to simple statements.
I have a very strong sense of attachment to this country and its history, even as I feel an equally strong sense of alienation from its present expression. And, you know, I do a good bit of thinking out loud here, and attachment and alienation are dichotomous things. And all this is closely tied to responsibility, and trying to figure out a way to talk about ambivalent identities without tying myself up in knots, giving in to the inclination to simplify and romanticise, or confusing the issue more than it is already. And talking about invented and reinvented identities and mythologised history with at least a nod to the understanding that well, hey, it's ours? But the ways in which it is ours are multifarious and complicated and strange, and just maybe it's okay to look at the past itself rather than the accepted narrative thereof, and pick the bits we'd like to keep and let the damn narrative go.
If that makes any sense.
Having sometimes to qualify oneself even to oneself gets old.
Lengthy addendum. Okay, now I'm done.
Today, I got a)blood tests, b)lunch out, c)a new jacket, d)a walk, e)told by my grandmother I need to lose a stone, f)most of the day off college work.
So that was mostly a good day.
An addendum, of sorts: I don't want to give the impression that I have a romantic view of Irish history, and its entanglement with our local imperial power, or of Irish identity. My discomfort with romanticising Irishness comes from the simplistic and often binary interpretations placed on Irish history and identity by such groups as modern Sinn Féin and, to a lesser extent, Fianna Fáil. ('Soldiers of destiny'. Now there's a name for a political party.)
Said discomfort also comes from the sterotyped notions of Irishness found in some British media productions, and the romanticised notions of Irishness sometimes found among certain North Americans. (And certain types of fantasy - not to point fingers, or anything, but why are elves nearly always 'Celtic'? I'm fairly sure they're more Germanic, originally. And why is 'Celtic' always vaguely - almost always stereotypically - Irish and/or Scots? What about the Welsh, the Manx, the Bretons, the Cornish?)
I do not want to be a data-point reinforcing romanticisations and false binaries. The nature of, and opinions about, the matter and worth of Ireland - and of Irishness - amd experiences thereof is quite incredibly diverse, for such a small island, with such a seemingly homogenous and parochial culture. This seems a small thing to point out. And yet the individual experience of being is not reducible to simple statements.
I have a very strong sense of attachment to this country and its history, even as I feel an equally strong sense of alienation from its present expression. And, you know, I do a good bit of thinking out loud here, and attachment and alienation are dichotomous things. And all this is closely tied to responsibility, and trying to figure out a way to talk about ambivalent identities without tying myself up in knots, giving in to the inclination to simplify and romanticise, or confusing the issue more than it is already. And talking about invented and reinvented identities and mythologised history with at least a nod to the understanding that well, hey, it's ours? But the ways in which it is ours are multifarious and complicated and strange, and just maybe it's okay to look at the past itself rather than the accepted narrative thereof, and pick the bits we'd like to keep and let the damn narrative go.
If that makes any sense.
Having sometimes to qualify oneself even to oneself gets old.
Lengthy addendum. Okay, now I'm done.
Today, I got a)blood tests, b)lunch out, c)a new jacket, d)a walk, e)told by my grandmother I need to lose a stone, f)most of the day off college work.
So that was mostly a good day.
